| Jada Pinkett Smith  AKA Jada Koren Pinkett
Born: 18-Sep-1971
Birthplace: Baltimore, MD
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: A Different World Pinkett's mother was in high school in Baltimore when, in 1971, she found herself pregnant. Pinkett's parents married for her birth, but divorced a few months later, so the child was raised by her young mother and her grandmother, a social worker. She attended a performing arts high school, where she studied drama and dance, and dated classmate Tupac Shakur. In college, Pinkett majored in theater, but decided to drop out and switch to a more practical career path by entering law school. When she called home to break the news, Pinkett's mother reacted by sending her to Los Angeles to become an actor. Her role on A Different World started as an occasional recurring character, but Pinkett proved popular enough to earn a promotion to the regular cast. She had a small role in Menace II Society (1993), and key roles in A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) and the chick flick Set It Off.
Pinkett met actor Will Smith when she auditioned for the role of his girlfriend on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She didn't get the part, because producers thought she was too short to make a good match for the 6-foot-2-inch actor. For several years, Smith and Pinkett occasionally ran into each other at Hollywood functions, and when his marriage to model Sheree Zampino broke up, Smith called Pinkett and they began dating. They lived together for two years before marrying in a small ceremony in her hometown on New Years Eve, 1997.
Smith and Pinkett Smith are either extraordinarily dedicated to their family or they have a PR flack who really, really works hard at getting that message out. "Family comes first" is what they both seem to stress in every media report about either of them. In 2003, Smith and Pinkett Smith sought a restraining order against one Mike Cooley, husband of their kids' former nanny, who had been fired for unspecified reasons. Cooley, they alleged, was stalking their children. Smith and Pinkett Smith collaborate as executive producers of the UPN sitcom All of Us. Pinkett also sings lead vocals in the band Wicked Wisdom, which opened for Britney Spears on her 2004 European tour.
In 2006 she donated $1-million to the Baltimore School for the Arts, an institute centered on training performers where she graduated in 1989. The money will be used to construct a new theater on the school grounds, and Pinkett Smith has asked that it be named for her murdered classmate, Tupac Shakur. Father: Robson Pinkett Jr. (contractor, estranged until 2001, d. Feb-2010)
Mother: Adrienne Banfield (nurse, b. 1952)
Boyfriend: Tupac Shakur (rapper, dated in high school)
Husband: Will Smith (actor/rapper, cohabited 1995-97, m. 31-Dec-1997, one son, one daughter)
Son: Trey Smith (stepson, b. circa 1993)
Son: Jaden Smith (actor, b. 8-Jul-1998)
Daughter: Willow Smith (singer, b. 31-Oct-2000)
High School: Baltimore School for the Arts, Baltimore, MD (1989)
University: North Carolina School for the Arts (dropped out)
Obama for America
Obama for Illinois
Obama Victory Fund 2012
Wedding: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (2006)
SPORTS FRANCHISE HISTORY
Philadelphia 76ers Minority ownership partner (2011-)
TELEVISION
Gotham Fish Mooney (2014-)
Hawthorne Christina Hawthorne (2009-11)
A Different World Lena James (1991-93)
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
The Human Contract (12-Sep-2008)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Girls Trip (21-Jul-2017)
Bad Moms (28-Jul-2016)
Magic Mike XXL (1-Jul-2015)
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (18-May-2012) · Gloria [VOICE]
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (30-Oct-2008) [VOICE]
The Women (12-Sep-2008)
The Human Contract (12-Sep-2008)
Reign Over Me (22-Mar-2007) · Janeane Johnson
Madagascar (27-May-2005) [VOICE]
Collateral (6-Aug-2004) · Annie
The Matrix Revolutions (27-Oct-2003) · Niobe
The Matrix Reloaded (7-May-2003) · Niobe
Ali (11-Dec-2001) · Sonji
Kingdom Come (8-Feb-2001)
Welcome to Hollywood (27-Oct-2000) · Herself
Bamboozled (18-Sep-2000)
Return to Paradise (10-Aug-1998) · M. J.
Woo (8-May-1998) · Off the Wall Babe
Scream 2 (12-Dec-1997)
Set It Off (6-Nov-1996) · Stony
If These Walls Could Talk (11-Sep-1996)
The Nutty Professor (28-Jun-1996) · Carla Purty
Demon Knight (13-Jan-1995)
A Low Down Dirty Shame (23-Nov-1994) · Peaches
Jason's Lyric (28-Sep-1994) · Lyric
The Inkwell (22-Apr-1994) · Lauren Kelly
Menace II Society (26-May-1993)
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications
| 
